Well, it missed the original rumoured deadline (last Thursday), but it's here now - v21.0.045 firmware for the Nokia N97 (classic), available via NSU as a 143MB download, featuring 'better call reliability and smoother touchscreen scrolling'. Comments welcome if you can add to the changelog/overview below. In view of the limited free space on disk C:, see below for my installation recommendations. (The previous firmware version was v20, the first to bring in Symbian^2-like full kinetic scrolling in all screens.)
A hat tip to Andrew Seftel for spotting the Nokia 5230 on Vodafone pay-as-you-go in the UK for £99. This, as far as we know, is the first instance of a non-contract S60 5th Edition smartphone coming in at under £100, a staggering price point. And incredible value given that the 5230 is one of the Ovi Maps Free Navigation handsets. So 3.2" display-equipped touchscreen smartphone and worldwide free navigation all for under a ton, with no contract, no obligations. What do you think?
Just a note that Phones Show 101, out now, has an interesting interview with the CEO of Vlingo, the email/text/search voice recognition system for Symbian, talking about how it works on the likes of the Nokia N97 and the future for voice. There's also my extended take on the hottest new competition for Nokia and Symbian, the Google Nexus One. Can Android 2.1 make up for the hardware shortcomings?
We live in interesting times. Nokia and Symbian (in particular) are regularly savaged in the tech press, yet managed to turn in (on Thursday) a surprisingly positive set of results, with over a billion Euros profit in Q4 2009 and with their smartphone market share up (not down, as the analysts would have you believe) 5%, worldwide. Read on for my thoughts on how Nokia has managed this particular feat and on why Symbian's market share is also not going away anytime soon - it's all a question of RANGE.
Just a note that Tim Salmon and I went rather overboard on Symbian-powered phones in the latest Phones Show Chat, no. 23, here. Though in theory cross platform, we found ourselves debating Nokia N97 mini, Samsung i8910 HD, Sony Ericsson Satio and even Nokia N85, in the usual mix of review material, Q&A, tips and rants. If you want to subscribe in Podcasting, here's the feed to add.
I have to admit that, like Rita el-Khoury, when I saw the proud boast by a Palm Pre Plus reviewer that they had managed to run 50 apps at once in its 512MB of RAM, I'd thought: well, some Symbian devices of yesteryear and a few from today could match that. Rita's taken the time to demonstrate this on the Samsung i8910 HD, managing 50 apps (and more) at once in only 256MB of RAM. Cool little post. Though I reckon I could get close to 50 on the unmodified Nokia N95 8GB, E90 or E71, for example. Anyone care to try?
Coming on the eve of Apple's big tablet release and Nokia's Q4 09 results announcement, IDC gathered all their numbers, analysts and (ahem) runes and produced a forecast for the smartphone market in 2013. Unusually, for an American data analysis firm, there's surprising understanding of the worldwide scene, with the headline stat being that the smartphone market will exceed 390 million units per year by 2013, with Symbian holding on to its world marketshare lead over the next three years. Quotes from the IDC press release and my own predictions below.
The latest roundup in a long series, Steve Litchfield looks at a number of commercial case designs for the Nokia N97 mini. Can any of them please the undisputed case-meister of the Symbian world? Which slip on and off with ease and which ones need chiselling off with a screwdriver (no, really)?
Guest author Matt Radford (of All About iPhone) borrowed my Nokia N97 mini for a few weeks recently. His aim? To see if he could switch to it from his beloved Apple iPhone. Matt was a hardened Symbian user in times past with a love of the S60 2nd Edition-powered Nokia N70, so this was an especially interesting experiment.
As the Symbian Foundation finish transitioning the OS and its applications over to the EPL (Eclipse Public License), various individuals and companies are responsible for different 'packages' - two such are the Image and Video editors. In the first such move, these two packages have just been transferred from one 'owner' to another. In this case, it's respected company Ixonos who has taken on responsibility and there's an interesting interview with Mikael Laine from Ixonos here on the subject.
Nokia Conversations has been doing a series of 'Three favourite Nokias ever', asking the question of famous people around the Nokia ecosystem, and it's our humble site-master's turn today. The N95's inclusion was probably a given, but the other two will surprise you. Worth a read!
Ewan takes a sideways look at the addition of Lifecasting to Ovi Maps this morning - what implications are there for bringing this social element into a mapping and navigation product? And what challenges remain in this area for Nokia? How will this release change the world? Read on in his Lifecasting editorial.
Escarpod, the third party Open Source podcast gatherer and player, originally written for UIQ and available for S60 in beta form for a while, is now the source of a Contribution Proposal to the main Symbian Foundation code base. Effectively, this means that future Symbian devices should have a podcast client, in the wake of Nokia choosing not to contribute their own proprietary Podcasting application. Read on for links and more information.
Proporta have been touting their Gadget Bag for a while now and I decided it was high time to give this accessory the ultimate test - give it to road warrior Ewan to fill/destroy. Here's his write-up, highlighting just how much stuff can be packed into the bag but also bemoaning the lack of internal loops and ties to stop your bits from rattling around. It's a positive review overall though and a road warrior won't argue with the price.
